Art and Learning Adventures

Jun20,2016

Talking Arts Integration at the Getty Museum

I joined the Arts Integration + California: A Convening at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The day was filled with speakers, case studies, and discussion groups. Even though there was practically no arts integration used in the presentations, there were so many good ideas and practices presented, I was thoroughly engaged the whole time.

Mona Caron’s “Windows Into The Tenderloin” is one of the most wondrous and meaningful pieces of art I’ve ever seen. I went to the Tenderloin Museum where Caron discussed the immersive process of creating the mural with Paige Bierma, who created a short film about it. The film is beautiful and pulls all the heart strings, watch it now!

I was particularly interested in learning more about the Tenderloin murals as I am in the process of setting up several Where Art Lives classes in the neighborhood. Students in these classes will imagine the murals they would like to place in the neighborhood.

Her approach to a collective visioning of a realistic Utopia, made me think of Steve Lamberts speech on the topic:

Elizabeth Brodersen told the story of the American Conservatory Theater education program which has achieved magnificent reach in less than 7 years. The program began with advocacy within the organization and has expanded by focusing on the needs of willing partners.

This happened at the arts education brown bag which occurs every two months in the San Francisco library. These lunches are a great opportunity to really learn deeply about an art program. This edition was hosted by Rica Anderson, Education Programs Manager, Cal Performances. The next brown bag will be at noon on July 20.

Tonight the Arts Education Master Plan (AEMP) Steering Committee delivered a meticulously thought-through report to the San Francisco Board of Education with recommendations to deeply refresh the AEMP so that the district can realize the goal of arts for every student, every day, in every school. I took notes in my sketchbook and also made public comments. I had two minutes for public comment, but I had a lot more to say - so I’ll share some more here.

In my comments, I voiced support for the plan citing my successful experience using arts to engage students in my many years as a substitute teacher and my belief that San Francisco should produce the most creative and innovative students.

I would have liked to have spoken more as Director of the Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area about the eagerness of our member organizations to work more intensively with SFUSD students and to have a clearer path for those partnerships to happen. If we had an office in the proposed Arts Center dedicated to the arts providers in the city, much of the time and energy currently expended on the logistics of partnerships could instead be spent on the substance of those relationships.

I would have liked to have spoken more about the power of arts integration to help students achieve all learning goals. Besides the fact that students are more engaged with all of their learning when it is at the service of their own self-expression, the arts are a powerful tool for researching and truly exploring subject. Let’s help students imitate contemporary artists, who choose a subject and use all possible tools to investigate.

Common Core Standards put an emphasis on literacy, but that literacy is not just limited to writing in prose. Let’s allow students to try out visual, musical, and movement literacy and become experts at whichever form is best for them. Let’s have arts specialists work side-by-side with teachers of other subjects (I’ve always found that riffing with a co-teachers is more efficient than common planning time).

Brent Stephens, chief academic officer of the district, will be creating a more detailed plan of action in coming months, at which point there may be another opportunity for adding public comment in support of arts education.

In the meantime, there is one idea that emerged in response the the presentation is that seems like it could be implemented right away. School site councils should be required to address the AEMP in their Balanced Scorecard/Single Plan for Student Achievement.

Born espouses a theory of change that starts with a lot of listening and discussion. You’ve got to make sure you have the people at the table who will be most effected and that you have people from a variety of disciplines in the room.

Students at Rooftop Middle School are collaborating with @sirronnorris (using his building drawings) to design their own businesses. Next, they will design murals to benefit the community. #oursfwalls (at Roof Top Mayeda Campus)

Students in Kimberley D'Adamo’s art class at Berkeley High School choose a topic to investigate, then they use research and a variety of art strategies to do a thorough, multidisciplinary inquiry.

When I arrived at the event, two of the student artists gave me a tour of the art show. Take a look at the art - it is impressive. Then we went into the art room and discussed the process with the students.

One component of the students’ research process is to interview their teachers from other subjects. This helped change the culture throughout the school as student-driven curiosity takes hold of the process.

D’Adamo went from thinking of herself as a “Teacher of Art,” to thinking of herself as a “Teacher of Thinking.” Imagine this transformation happening throughout a school.

Drawings created in real time at the Alameda County Office of Education spring retreat Curriculum Slam. Teachers presented their most exciting arts and arts integration lesson plans using 14 slides which automatically advanced every 30 seconds. The theme of this April 16 slam was “Altered States” to coincide with the “Altered State: Marijuana in California” exhibit upstairs at OMCA.

So I’m on my to get my bags to leave Chicago and I happen on to a political at gallery hosting an event. So, yes, I stop in to join a discussion about the start of the Iraq war in 2003. And yes, I left them a drawing to document the event. #politics #art #naea16 #peace #theworldcantwait

What #artsed tools are you learning at #naea16? Discuss and doodle about it. Combine ideas on one canvas as a group. #StudentArt from my “Educators of Awesomeness” workshop. (at 2016 NAEA National Convention)